News

The warm ocean current that keeps northern Europe habitable is weaker than at any time in the previous thousand years, sediments and ice cores indicate. The finding increases the likelihood the current will weaken further, with catastrophic implications for the UK and Ireland, and bad news for many other places. For thousands of years the […]

If you are a blonde like me and enjoy laps in a swimming pool, you may have noticed your hair acquires a green tint after frequent swims in chlorinated water. This happens to both bleached and natural blondes. In fact, the green tinge happens to everyone, but it’s less visible on dark hair and those […]

Although planes can take us to places far and wide, climate change has made people reconsider the carbon footprint of flying. The flight industry is looking towards sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) or e-fuels as a potentially greener alternative to traditional fuels.  For The Big Questions, IFLScience’s podcast, we spoke to Sophie Zienkiewicz and Alasdair Lumsden, […]

Caves have long been used for funerary purposes in cultures from the Americas to Asia. In the Iberian Peninsula in modern-day Portugal and Spain, placing the dead in natural caves dates back to the early Neolithic era. Also widespread was the manipulation of human remains within these burial caves, utilizing the bones to make tools, […]

Have you ever noticed a small bump on your belly? Although it could be a multitude of different things, lumps on the abdomen can sometimes be down to hernias, of which one of the most common types is epigastric. What is an epigastric hernia? Hernias happen when an internal part of the body, such as […]

The human tendency to see faces and other meaningful forms in random patterns may have influenced the cave art created by our Ice Age ancestors, new research suggests. According to the study authors, ancient artists probably recognized animal forms in the cracks and curves in cave walls, often using these natural features as a scaffold […]

For the first time, scientists have discovered that jellyfish can learn from past experiences and change their behavior in response, despite lacking a central brain. The findings of a new study suggest they’re much more complex than previously thought, which is particularly remarkable for an animal with so few nerve cells. Box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophora) […]

A spider bonanza kicked off in Australia during the Miocene at a time when a change in the climate dried up the landscape. This gave a group of spiders called mygalomorph spiders an opportunity to diversify, which would be really cool to see if we had many spider fossils to work from. The record is […]

The centuries have not always been kind to ancient artifacts, especially works of art. Museums across the world are filled with examples of statues and sculptures that are damaged in some way, often missing limbs or showing signs of dilapidation. However, not all of this assumed damage is accidental. It seems the Romans deliberately created […]

The first day of fall is marked by the autumn equinox, which this year lands on Saturday, September 23. The equinox is a day that sees equal parts day and night and it happens twice a year; once on the vernal equinox in spring, and then again in the fall. The equinox is steeped in […]

Venus has a thick deadly atmosphere. The cloud cover extends for 20 kilometers (12 miles) and is marked by flashes of light. These are believed to be lightning flashes and electrical discharges among the clouds, but now a team has an alternative explanation: meteor strikes. The idea that it is lightning comes from different types […]

From encounters with autonomous entities to the sensation of ego-dissolution, various psychedelics offer experiences that can only be described as “mystical” and often, according to users, weirdly familiar. But despite the number of people who report such things, little research has paid particular attention to this sense of familiarity. Now researchers have addressed this gap […]

Queen Cleopatra has remained one of the most high-profile figures in history. Often remembered for her cunning and romantic love affairs with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, this queen of Egypt was an accomplished ruler in her own right, and one of the few female rulers of her age. It is perhaps fitting then […]

There are six varieties of quarks, including one known as “strange”. However, in the world of the very small, where quantum physics reigns, many things are strange, and arguably charm quarks are stranger still. Both top and bottom quarks are heavier than charm quarks (in the case of top quarks, dramatically so), but last year, […]

UNESCO has added over 40 new World Heritage Sites to its list of protected areas and buildings, ranging from the natural wonders of forests and mountains to the culturally significant monuments and memorials of human history. After deliberations at the 45th World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, the list contains nearly 1,200 sites considered […]

While lobsters might not get the acclaim they deserve in terms of popularity and are more likely to end up on a platter at a fancy seafood restaurant than a top ten list of impressive creatures, they nevertheless have some pretty noteworthy characteristics. While most lobster species appear in shiny red or orange hues, just […]

DNA analysis has revealed that the current oldest fish living in an aquarium could be even older than her previous estimated age of 84 years old, putting her at 92 (plus or minus 9 years, giving a range of 83-101 years old). Methuselah is an Australian Lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri), a species that hangs out in […]

The deep sea is full of oddities, from magnetic field-sensing bacteria and other strange microorganisms to massive squid and even “potatoes”. The depths of the ocean off the coast of New Zealand host something particularly curious, or at least they did until recent research exposed its origins: the unexplained “hoofprints” scattered across the seafloor are actually the work […]

Down in the depth of the ocean, you could be in for a big scary surprise or you could take a leaf out of the book of the researchers at the Nautilus Live Ocean Exploration Trust as they share the joy they experienced when witnessing a dumbo octopus in front of their remotely operated vehicles.  […]